Law Firm Blogs - 8: Turning Your Blawg Into a Book

News this month is Blogger has teamed with Blog2Print, and you can convert your blog to a paperback book.  Here's the catch:  each paperback will cost you $14.95 -- and that is for a 20 page book. 

Add a page, it will cost you another 35 cents. 

While I like the idea of converting a law firm blog into a book that can be used for marketing purposes, I don't know that this offer is cost effective. 


I think a law firm blog-book would need to have well over 20 pages to be impressive to a client.  Of course, maybe that depends upon the client - and the topic covered by the blog.

However, before I made any final decision I would want to check out the quality of these "soft bound books."  The image provided by Blogger Buzz (shown here) looks nice enough but I would need to see the product in hand before I made any type of commitment.  Of course, that offer of a pdf version for $7.95/each might be a really nice option here ....

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My Blog Posts Get Top Spots in Google Search Results Consistently Over Time

This afternoon, I stopped to check the stats for my personal blogs and found some nice results. I do this a lot, but today I actually stopped to make a little tally.

I've listed some of them here, and these searches are accurate as of today's date - using only Google. I have results in Yahoo, Bing, Ask, AOL, etc. but I chose only to check Google Search Results and only through the past couple of days results as recorded by StatCounter. For some, I saved the search results in OneNote, but this got to be time-consuming so I didn't do this for everything on the list.

And while I write professionally for several blogs/blawgs, these results are only for my personal blogs - as well as a little tidbit at the end where I blogged for a couple of friends and kept track on StatCounter for them, too. No waiver of client confidentiality here.

The biggest search result?
2 out of 1.75 billion for a two month old post

1,750,000,000 and my post is number two, after being published in June 2009 (see no. 1 under Backseat Lawyer).

The second largest search result?
3 out of 77 million for a 3 year old post

77,300,000 and my post is number three, after being published in August 2006 (it's three years old) (see no. 5 under Rebecca Kennedy's Blog).

Oldest post still getting strong results?

The 2005 post that still ranks no. 7 out of 23,400,000 -- see no. 4 listed under Rebecca Kennedy's Blog.



Google Search Results - Backseat Lawyer

1. my post is no. 2 out of 1,750,000,000 (yes, that's billion) for the search "how will michael jackson death affect his life insurance pay out"- I published it on 06/28/09;

2. my post is no. 1 out of 5,120,000 for the search "casey anthony employment universal"- I pubished it on 08/09/08;

3. my post is no. 8 out of 2,620,000 for the search "billings murder fla" - I published it on 07/23/09;

4. My post is no. 5 out of 1,320,000 for the search "jose baez", published on 01/15/09; and

5. the same post regarding "jose baez" is no. 3 out of 894,000 for the search "jose baez bio" - I published it on 01/15/09.

Google Search Results for Rebecca Kennedy's Blog

1. my post is no. 3 out of 49,700,000 for the search "thriller vs. mystery"- I published it on 11/24/06;

2. my post is no. 1 out of 33,200,000 for the search "how to write a book in six weeks"- I published it on 09/16/06;

3. the same post as above is no. 2 out of 28,300,000 for the search "how to write a book in two weeks"- I published it on 09/16/06;

4. my post is no. 7 out of 23,400,000 for the search "book length in words" - I published it on 12/14/05; and

5. my post is no. 3 out of 77,300,000 for the search "what is isbn?" - I published it on 08/12/06.

Google Search Results for Everyday Simplicity

1. my post is no. 3 out of 30,400,000 for the search "cleaning burnt pans" - I published it on 01/11/06;

2. my post is no. 2 out of 19,200,000 for the search "tips for surviving a depression" - I published it on 11/28/08;

3. my post is no. 1 out of 1,200,000 for the search "coca cola made with sugar" - I published it on 04/10/09;

4. my post is no. 2 out of 1,480,000 for the search " becoming an ex-patriate" - I published it on 01/16/06, and if you take out the hyphen to create the word "expatriate" in the search, then the post becomes no. 2 out of 640,000;

5. my post is no. 4 out of 4,300,000 for the search "products made from petroleum" - I published it on 06/15/07.


And I did a quick check for other blogs ....

Google Search Results for Jean Jennings' Blog
(Jean's blog is dormant but it's still getting some great results for her.)

1. my post is no. 2 out of 5380 for the search "Bexar County Jury Duty," and no. 4 out of 59,200 for "San Antonio Jury Duty" ... the post was published 07/07/08 and while these aren't high volume searches, Jean gets steady traffic from a targeted group -- she's a practicing criminal defense/CPS attorney in San Antonio, Bexar County;

2. my post is no. 2 out of 3,220,000 for the search "san antonio jail visiting hours" - published 08/02/08, another targeted group for Jean's local criminal defense practice; and

3. my post is no. 6 out of 2,510,000 for the search "search warrant examples" - published 08/09/08.

Google Search Results for Judge Tom Rickhoff's Blog
(Judge Rickhoff's blog was recently reactivated after being dormant for an extended period of time)

1. my post is no. 1 out of 458,000 for the search "Not Forgotten Coalition" - published 04/25/06.

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Lawyer Writer News Flash: AP May Not Believe in Fair Use - They Want Payment for Excerpts Over 4 Words Long

This has been up for awhile over at the Associated Press site, but I think most folk are either ignorant of this fee schedule, or they're just blatantly ignoring it.

Me, I think it's stupid. AP wants you to pay for ANY excerpt of any of their content that you use on your blog. That's right. Quote as little as FIVE (5) words, and AP wants you to pay them $12.50.

Are we being punked? No. Apparently the AP is serious. Stupid, but serious.

And rather than rant, I refer you to the article written by Derek Bambauer for the Harvard University blog, Info/Law.

They are so ... well, polite. They call it "overreaching."

Stupid, overreaching. Po-tay-to, Po-tah-to.

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Law Firm Blogs - 7: Duplicate Your Blog Posts on your Facebook page

So you have a blog (or blawg) and you've got a Facebook page. Great. Your time is valuable, so let's save some.

Multitask those two marketing spots by taking your blog content and republishing it on your Facebook page. Just go to Facebook, log in and go to the Notes page. From there, follow the directions to import the blog posts to your Fan page. Easy enough.

Edit your Feed settings so your unabridged blog posts show up on the Feeds of all your fans, as well.

There. Have questions? Email me and I'll walk you through.

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Bing is up and running but I'm more interested in WolframAlpha

There's another "thinking" search engine for you to try out -- Bing -- and so far, I'm not impressed. Maybe it's too new, and it'll get better with time.

You remember Cuil, right?

Meanwhile, I'm keeping a closer watch on Wolfram Alpha. Which isn't a search engine per se ... instead it's a "computational knowledge" gizmo. Yeah, right.

More on how Wolfram Alpha is better than Google ... for some things ... over at Mashable. I like this, I mean why not go the next step instead of trying to out-Google Google? Isn't that Yahoo's job?

And, fine. I think I just like the name WolframAlpha. It's so perfect it should be in a Heinlein novel.

Pictured: WolframAlpha's one page summary.

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Here's My Story: Bio of a Lawyer Writer

I'm a professional writer with 20+ yrs experience as an AV-rated lawyer (complex business litigation, high-dollar personal injury). I've tried cases in federal and state court, and I've taken appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit as well as the Texas Supreme Court.

Most of my legal career has dealt with high stakes cases, files with complex legal issues and massive factual details. Right out of UT Law, Luke Soules was my mentor and I've very grateful to have been apprenticed to such a brilliant, excellent trial lawyer.

Today, I write about legal issues, particularly legally related SEO (search engine optimized) web content, and I also provide Social Media Consultation that relates to the legal profession. I do ghostwriting for lawyers and law firms on occasion.

I've written a book on legal issues for freelance writers (copyright infringement, etc.) which I'm proud to say had Bob Bly as its editor. I also write a nationally syndicated, and award-winning, blog on voluntarily simplicity issues entitled Everyday Simplicity, and I walk the walk of this lifestyle change.

My writing has been published in Reuters, Chicago Sun Times, CNN.COM, Computer Shopper, Dayton Daily News, Green Scene, and other national publications.

I am a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, an invited member of the prestigious Texas Bar Foundation and a member of American Mensa. And I still practice law, though I limit it to judicial appointments in the Bexar County Children's Court as a dual role attorney/guardian ad litem for abused and neglected children in CPS cases.

How and why did I evolve from a business litigator shopping at Sak's to writer shopping at Sam's?

I'd like to tell you that it was a smooth and effortless transition, law to writing. But it wasn't. I had a series of personal life events that were heartbreaking and confusing - and to complicate things further, the practice of law was rapidly evolving, too.

Suffice to say, I wanted very much to simplify my life. I learned the lesson that each day is a gift, and that time is the commodity to treasure, not money.

I learned to read at the age of two (got my photo in the Corpus Christi Caller Times for that, but that's another story for another day), and I'd always wanted to be a writer.

So, I took the steps to transition from one career to another. There was sacrifice. There was the learning curve. There was the humility of beginning at square one after leaving a profession where I'd mastered quite a bit.

And, here I am. I'm a professional writer now. And I thank God every day for it.

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Hooray for Leo Babauta at ZenHabits

I love Leo Babauta and I think you will too when you go read his post, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway (or, the Privatization of the English Language).

Leo is right and this is stupid.

What's stupid? Someone - who I won't name so he/she won't get any more publicity from me - sent Leo a cease and desist letter of some sort because he used the phrase "feel the fear and do it anyway." Or something close to that.

Feel the fear and do it anyway. He used it just like that -- within a blog post, not even within the title -- and the author of a book (again, I'm not naming the book or the author) thought this was sufficient to request that the phrase be acknowledged as trademark.

What Great Expectations on their part. Beloved, surely we have all reached Childhood's End -- Welcome to the Monkeyhouse -- when the Stand that this Fool takes is that of threatening A Civil Action without identifying the Burden of Proof needed to support her argument .... You get the idea.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
Welcome to the Monkeyhouse by Kurt Vonnegut
The Stand by Stephen King
Fool by Christopher Morley
A Civil Action by John Grisham
Burden of Proof by Scott Turow

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